


wanting me dead has really brought you two together

by strangelysweet



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Injury, M/M, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, maruki loses the "gentle" aspect of his "gentle madman" vibe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25669051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangelysweet/pseuds/strangelysweet
Summary: All beautiful things must come to an end. Decay follows creation.Takuto knows how God must have felt when watching Lilith fall. His most impressive creation, corrupted by wants greater than the ones he supplied. Just like that."Doctor," Akechi greets him, lifting his mask from his face."Akechi," Takuto says, his voice cold."How does it feel to be God, Doctor?"---title from mad woman, by taylor swift
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira
Comments: 13
Kudos: 69





	wanting me dead has really brought you two together

Maruki Takuto sits on his throne of pretty illusions and charged tendrils, watching the only two people in his world who were able to wake themselves up from their rest. Their dreams could have been reality. But here they are, running rampant through his Palace, slicing through memories of the woman who made this all possible. His blood boils in his veins, and he carves his nails into his flesh to release it. Takuto has never been an angry person. He thinks he's allowed to make a few exceptions. 

He gave them everything. He even gave them a _choice_. And still, they took the hard way out. They obviously wanted each other, the domesticity of waking up to find the other in the kitchen, brewing coffee. They could have had it, all they needed to do was ask. But they never did. They chose the hard way: the painful, difficult, complex way. And now, they've strayed onto the warpath, destroying all Takuto thinks is right and good. 

He's had enough. How can two _children_ , without the firepower of the rest of their little troupe of clowns, singlehandedly decimate his work? He's been toiling over this project for years, and they take it down like it's a house of cards. His teeth gnash, his knuckles crack, and he sweeps his arm out, sending tendrils of energy out across Eden. 

A charred, barren wasteland is left, smoldering with blue fire. Skeletons of those who once deserved redemption crackle into ash. All that remains is a single, red apple. Takuto steps forward, and he picks it up, turning it over in his hands. And, just as Eve took a bite of the apple in The Garden, he sinks his teeth into it. It tastes like blood and decay, and a maggot squirms on his tongue. He spits it out, then crushes the fruit in his hand. The scriptures said that the apple revealed to Adam and Eve the secrets of good and evil. The scriptures were full of shit. The apple gives Takuto the knowledge of accepting that there is no good and there is no evil. There is only a winner. And so he waits, turning back to sit on his throne of ash and bones. The challengers are close, and they will be greeted with Takuto's new resolve. 

If his Palace burns, they're burning with it. 

They arrive in the elevator, greeted with a gush of dry, hot wind. Akira, the boy who seemed sweet, whose longing for his rival became Takuto's greatest fake yet, bares his teeth like an animal. Next to him, the boy he made, looks at him with disgust. Takuto knows how God must have felt when watching Lilith fall. His most impressive creation, corrupted by wants greater than the ones he supplied. Just like that. 

"Doctor," Akechi greets him, lifting his mask from his face. 

"Akechi," Takuto says, his voice cold. 

"How does it feel to be _God_ , Doctor?" The boy asks, the metal of his claws scraping the glass of the elevator. "Is it everything you ever wanted?" 

Takuto nods. Akira looks at him with contempt. In another world, Takuto would have been hurt. He would have taken the hits. But no longer. Angels fall, and they are punished. It is up to him to pluck the wings from their backs. 

When they fight, Akechi puts himself in front of Akira. It would be sweet if it wasn't him they were fighting. They have a connection that makes it harder for Takuto to focus on one of them at a time. When one is down, the other takes over. They lick their wounds, and then they attack with full force. 

They knock Takuto down, and Akira places his gun to his skull. The cold metal bites into Takuto's forehead. 

"Doc, I really didn't want to do this. Stop now, while you still can." Akira says, ever the voice of reason. 

"All of the beautiful things that you two could have had," He wheezes, coughing up blood, "I could have given them to you. You have something special, I can tell." 

Akechi examines his claws, picking the dried blood from in-between the plates. "I've never been one for organized religion. Have you, Akira?" 

The dark-haired boy shakes his head. Akechi continues. "In fact, organized religion has never been one for _me_ , either. Isn't that right, Doctor?" 

Takuto's mouth feels like it's full of sand, and when he opens his mouth to speak, nothing comes out. He was _God._ And yet, he had been reduced to nothing by two teenagers with some rather serious trauma. The last resort starts to wriggle out of his throat, like the maggot turning in the apple. 

"He's not real, Akira." He chokes out, looking straight at Akechi. 

Akira pales. The gun slackens slightly, and the red-clad hand holding it starts to tremble. Akechi is silent, his mouth set in a grim line. 

"Goro? Is he telling the truth?" Akira asks, his voice shaking. 

Akechi doesn't say a word. 

"Goro?" Akira asks again, quietly. 

Takuto wheezes, laughing. His lungs feel as if they're pressed against thorns, every breath he takes is agony. Akechi gives him a look that could kill a small animal. 

"Pull the trigger, Akira." He says plainly. 

Akira shakes his head. "If he goes, you go too, right? If he dies, you disappear?" 

"Pull the trigger." 

The gun presses into Takuto's forehead again, and he can see tears streaming down Akira's face through the cracked lens in his glasses. Akechi's jaw is clenched, the muscle twitching underneath the skin of his cheek. Trouble in paradise must be difficult. Takuto no longer has the facilities to care, anymore. 

"Pull the fucking trigger, Akira, it isn't fucking hard!" Akechi hisses, pulling out his own gun and aiming it at Takuto's throat. 

"Goro, you need to answer me." Akira pleads, reaching out to touch him. 

Akechi recoils. "We need to finish what we started, Akira. I'll talk to you about it later." 

That seems to calm Akira down. Akechi has always been a good liar, especially to himself. Takuto couldn't even find out what he wanted until he mentioned the name of the boy he lies the most to. No matter now. His revenge will be taking away from this petulant child what the world took from him. 

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and life for life. Just like the scriptures said. Akira's finger pulls on the trigger, and Takuto feels a pain in his hand. The screams fall out of his mouth before he can control them. 

"You are going to go back to your real self, and you are going to repent," Akira orders him. 

Takuto feels himself nodding, slowly vanishing into the ashen air of what remains of Eden. His mind is screaming in refusal, but he's just so _tired_. 

"Akira, you can't be serious," Akechi says, just ask Takuto fades from this version of reality. 

"As the grave, Goro. I can't kill him. It's not my nature." Akira replies. 

Akechi snorts. "You threw away that shot for something so trivial?" 

"If it's so _trivial_ , why can't you just say 'my life'?" The dark-haired boy retorts. 

His companion is silent. 

"I thought so," Akira says bitterly. "I know how much you want freedom. You're still going to get it. Changing his heart means this all goes away. That's my ' _gift_ ' to you." 

His voice cracks and a ravaged sob chokes its way through his throat. Akechi bites his lip, looking to the floor. Akira pulls him close, wrapping his arms around him fiercely. He slowly places a hand on his companion's back, drawing in a shaky breath. 

"I'm keeping your glove. The second I see you next, I'm chasing after you." Akira whispers. 

Akechi can't do anything else but nod. The Palace starts to crumble, and Akira lets him go, fishing around his pocket for his phone. He looks him in the eye as he presses on the button to take them away from the destruction. 

When he's out, there's no one standing in front of him. Akira squeezes his eyes shut, his phone clattering to the stone pavement. 

**Author's Note:**

> hehe sorry not sorry  
> takuto had big potential, but i'm glad that they kept him nice. it was cool to shake things up a bit with his palace tho.


End file.
